Hey guys!! I've got a video attached in the media box, but DON'T play it yet! It's an extra surprise thing I did foe this chapter! I'll give you guys the okay somewhere in the chapter when you can watch it ;)

If the media box is for some reason not working (Wattpad's being REALLY testy lately), I'll be posting the link on the message board of my profile

~~~~~~~~

Sam smiled nervously and nodded.

"I'm sorry to ambush you guys like this," she said. "But I needed to talk to you right away, so I thought this'd be the best way to do it."

"You shouldn't be here," Trixie said worriedly. "If someone sees you here-"

"I know," Sam said quickly. "It would be bad. So, could you guys let me inside, please?"

"Of course," Alana said, breaking free of her shocked daze and pressing a button on Midnight's control panel. The launch bay door swung open, and Sam rushed her VI-LT model doe in, the rest of the Shane Gang following after her.

Once they were all in, Kord pressed a button on his Mecha and the garage door shut. Sam sighed, immediately becoming more relaxed, and hopped down from her Mecha, the Shane Gang following suit.

"Let's head in and sit down," Eli said, leading the way into the living room. "We've kinda had a long day."

Alana sighed and fell down into her bean bag chair, unclipping her bandoleer and shoulder pad and tossing them on the coffee table. Sam sat on the end of the couch, closest to Alana, with Eli and Trixie beside her. Kord sat on a chair and Pronto, having somehow already rushed to the kitchen and grabbed a sandwich, plopped down on the ground in front of the coffee table to eat.

"So what happened that made you decide to come all the way out here?" Eli asked. "Don't you live out east?"

"Yes, it's not a quick ride. But after this morning I had to come," Sam said, folding her hands in her lap and looking down at them. "I want to start this off by saying that no matter what, I'm on your guys' side. The Shane Gang saved my life," she continued, glancing up at Alana for a moment, "and I won't forget that."

Eli frowned, and Alana leaned back and prepared herself for what sounded like a grim announcement.

"This morning, I attended a meeting between Blakk and my parents," Sam began. "Ever since the formal, they've been scheming together more and more. At first, it sounded like my parents were just providing funding to Blakk Industries in a business partnership with Gray Enterprise. But it's more than that now. This morning, my parents made a deal with Blakk to provide him with tons of equipment for him and his workers."

Eli frowned and folded his arms. "What kind of equipment are we talking about?"

"Mechas, train parts, drill parts," Sam said, sounding miserable. "Blaster mods. Slugs."

Alana perked up at the last part, narrowing her eyes. If Blakk's workers didn't have to waste time hunting for wild slugs, he would be able to make a lot more ghouls a lot faster.

"How do your parents even have access to all this stuff?" Kord asked.

"Gray Enterprise specializes in mechanics, especially the kind you don't get from the Beast Forge," Sam explained. "That's where the drill and train parts come in easily. Then we've purchased a secondary Mecha manufacturer, one that gets some parts from the Beast Forge, but manufactures the Mechas independently. The same goes for taking over blaster equipment stores- I've recently gained access to finances, and Gray Enterprise has a business history nearly as dirty as Blakk Industries."

"And the slugs?" Alana asked.

"Gray Enterprise bought out a couple trading stores. Other than that, they've been sending workers out the collect slugs in the last couple weeks. With all the focus on Blakk, nobody's noticed," Sam said. "And my parents are just handing them over to Blakk."

Alana's heart sank. She loved very few things more than seeing slugs in Slugterra, and that love was just amplified with the discovery of her powers. Every time she got thinking too much about the horrors Blakk was subjecting them to, sadness and fury grew up inside her.

"How could they do that?" Eli asked, shaking his head. "Don't they have any clue what Blakk will do to those slugs? To the people they go up against with that new equipment?"

"Not everyone can have parents who were beacons of hope," Sam responded bitterly. "Some of us got stuck with horrible people."

Alana winced- she'd heard those exact words before from an old friend.

"Sorry," Eli said, surprised. Sam sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"No, don't be, that wasn't called for," she said. "It's just upsetting. Because it's true- they know what's happening to the slugs and people because of Blakk. And they don't care."

"When exactly does this all happen?" Trixie asked.

"Two days," Sam responded. "I wish I could've told you guys sooner, but I didn't know until this morning."

"Do you have any more information? Times, places?" Eli asked. Alana could already practically see the gears in his head spinning.

"Not yet," Sam admitted. "Being in the same room as Doctor Blakk... I wasn't eager to speak up too much. He's terrifying. Plans are being finalized tomorrow morning, though, so I'll be able to get them to you then."

"So we could have less than a day to prepare once we get all the details," Trixie said flatly. Sam nodded.

"A day will be enough," Eli said, getting to his feet. "We can't let all that fall into Blakk's hands. Especially the slugs. We'll do our best to figure it out, Sam. I know it was a big risk for you to come out here and warn us. Don't worry- the Shane Gang will take care of it."

Sam got to her feet, too, and it looked almost comical as she looked skeptically down at the Shane.

"I'm not leaving it to just you guys," she protested. "I want to help, too. You're going to need someone who knows their way around Gray Enterprise facilities."

"We appreciate the offer," Trixie said. "But I don't think it'll be necessary. We've done stuff like this before."

"And how did that end?" Sam asked sadly. She glanced down at Alana, who still watched from the bean bag chair. "I heard all about Twist, and I'm sorry all of that happened. And you guys had the right idea with the heists you did with him, but you only made it that far because you had him feeding you information. It obviously didn't work out in your favor, but still- this isn't something you can do alone."

Alana got to her feet, shaking her head. "But if you get caught-"

Sam cut her off.

"You think I don't know what'll happen?"

The room fell silent, and Sam glanced down.

"My parents will disown me. I'll be on Blakk's hit list. I know what I'm risking, but if it even slows Doctor Blakk down a little bit, then I have to do everything I can," she said, her voice powerful with determination.

"You would just... give up living with your family?" Alana asked, appalled. The notion of willingly leaving your home and family bewildered her, and this wasn't the first time she had dealt with a friend ready to ditch everything she knew.

Something deep down inside Alana was bitter and angry at the thought, as if she knew exactly what it was like to go from having everything to having nothing, and every part of her mind was in shock that someone would willingly put themselves through that.

"Fine. If you really want in, then I'm not gonna stop you," Eli said. Alana's eyes widened, but she didn't dare protest. When Eli made a decision, he stuck with it.

"Thank you," Sam said, relieved.

"Just make sure you know what you're getting yourself into," Trixie said. Sam laughed and put her hands on her hips.

"Believe me, I do. I've already started packing."

~~~~~~~~

Sam decided to leave shortly after, wanting to get back to her house before dark. Alana walked out with her into the launch bay, having mixed feelings. She admired Sam's courage, but she couldn't bring herself to agree with her decision, and she had no idea why.

"I'll contact you guys tomorrow as soon as I figure out more details," Sam said as she climbed up on her Mecha. "From there, we can figure out a solid plan."

"Why are you doing this?" Alana asked suddenly. Sam paused, looking down at Alana confusedly.

"Betraying my parents? So Blakk doesn't get his hands on major equipment upgrades," Sam said, dumbfounded. "Were you listening in there?"

"No, not that," Alana said, fighting to keep irritation out of her voice. "I mean why are you directly helping us and then bailing out on your parents? They're your family."

"Look, Alana, I need to go," Sam said, steering her doe toward the open garage door. "But they're bad people. I'm not going to stay with them if I can avoid it. I'll talk to you all tomorrow."

With that, Sam Gray sped off into the night, her long brown hair flying behind her as she rode off to pretend to love living with her parents and silently work toward knocking them off their pedestals. She had never felt more powerful, more rebellious.

Alana stood alone in the garage bay, watching the young woman ride off, feeling confused and bitter and not knowing why.

She stood out in the garage for a few minutes, trying to sort through the mixed emotions she felt. And when she failed, she gave up and went back inside to the rest of the Shane Gang. They had Will's chest sitting open in the coffee table, everyone scattered around the living room, chatting about the contents.

Alana walked in and sat back down in her bean bag chair, which the other slingers knew by now to leave empty. As she walked by it, she noticed that a few things were missing- the books that had been stacked in one of the corners.

Probably had to do with the surface, Alana thought as she sunk into her chair. Eli must've gotten them out.

"Did you see Sam off?" Kord asked. Alana nodded absently, keeping her gaze on the chest.

"Yeah, she should make good time. Her parents won't suspect a thing," Alana responded.

"Pronto hates to be the the voice of pessimism, but does this situation not seem like the perilous one we just recently got out of?" Pronto asked. Eli frowned and sat up a bit from where he was sitting next to Trixie on the couch.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Once again, we have a stranger coming to us with very valuable information regarding Doctor Blakk, and once again we welcome them with open arms and believe everything they have to say," Pronto said.

"You think Sam's playing us like Twist?" Trixie asked disbelievingly. "I don't think this situation is the same."

"Yeah, bro, I appreciate having some caution," Kord said thoughtfully. "But we've met Sam before, and this isn't the first time she's stuck her neck out for us. Besides, why would Blakk send someone else in to betray us right after Twist?"

"Not to mention she sounded pretty afraid of Blakk when she talked about him," Eli said. "I dunno, but that didn't sound like it was fake to me."

"Maybe Pronto's right."

The room fell silent. Everyone turned to Alana in shock, eyes wide, jaws dropped. Even Ash and Mage gasped from Alana's shoulders and looked at each other worriedly.

The Shane Gang's token optimist had just agreed that their recent ally could be an enemy.

"What?" Pronto asked, his voice echoing as it broke the silence. "Oh- um, I mean, yes! Of course!"

Eli looked Alana up and down like she had just transformed into a whole other person right before his eyes.

"What makes you say that?" he asked.

"Yeah, I thought you and Sam were pretty tight," Kord said, exchanging a worried glance with Trixie. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

Alana felt some heat rush up to her face, and she shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Doesn't it just seem a little weird to you guys that Sam's so ready to just ditch her family?" Alana asked.

"They're workin' with Doctor Blakk," Kord said.

"They may be making bad decisions, but..." Alana paused, trying to find the right words to say what she wanted to. "I just can't imagine willingly leaving your family like that. Maybe-maybe it's just because I never lived with mine, but it just seems wrong. I'd give anything to even remember mine, and she's just picking up and leaving hers."

Alana laughed and shook her head, running her hands through her bangs.

"And now that I hear that out loud, I know it's oversimplifying things so much," she admitted. "But I just can't get past it."

"I see what you mean," Trixie said. "But she sounded so confident with her choice to leave them, and I think that's even more reason to trust her. It takes a lot of courage to acknowledge that someone close to you is wrong and to make the decision to leave them."

"You're right," Alana said with a sigh. "I think I'm still just wound up from everything that happened with Twist. Sorry, Pronto," she added. The molenoid sighed and shook his head.

"I knew it was too good to be true," he mumbled.

Eli looked around at the gang.

"Then can we at least agree that we're hearing out the details Sam sends us tomorrow?" he asked. "I really do think Sam's being honest with us, and I think this heist might be a chance to redeem ourselves after what happened with Twist."

"Count me in," Kord said. Trixie nodded, and Pronto reluctantly did the same. Eli turned to Alana.

"I think we should operate with a little more caution than usual, but yeah, I'm in," she said. Kord got to his feet, stretching out his arms.

"Well, then, if we're all in agreement, I am going to bed before anything else happens today," he said. Pronto hopped to his feet as well.

"Ah, yes, Pronto needs his beauty rest!" Pronto exclaimed. "It has been a very long day!"

"I think I'll stay down here a couple more minutes," Eli said, leaning forward and grabbing the chest from the coffee table. "There's still a few things to look at in here."

Trixie nodded, moving closer to Eli to see inside the chest.

"Same for me," she said. "I wanna see the rest of this stuff."

"I'm comfy, I'll just hang out down here too," Alana noted. Ash and Mage chirped happily, laying down and stretching out on Alana's shoulders.

She watched from her bean bag chair as Eli pulled out a couple objects from the chest. The first was a beaten-up walkie-talkie. Trixie and Alana exchanged a confused glance, but Eli laughed and held it up.

"He kept this?" he marveled.

"What is it? It looks like someone tried to make a piece of technology and it ended up just being a brick with a speaker," Trixie noted.

"It's a walkie-talkie I gave to my dad when I was super young," Eli explained. "He was away defending the caverns a lot, I was old enough to understand that. But I wasn't old enough to understand that these things only worked if you were within a hundred feet of each other."

And in Will's case, he was a hundred miles of dirt and stone away from you, Alana thought. Looking at the contents of the chest felt off, but she couldn't quite figure out why.

Was she still just concerned with the déjà vu of listening to a friend prepare to leave her family behind?

"I would talk into it, even though he couldn't ever respond," Eli continued, looking at the device fondly. "And it always made me feel better. It's been years since I've seen mine, I'm sure by now it's lost or broken."

He set the walkie-talkie back in the chest and then picked up the final object of discussion: the red-haired action figure.

"And this," he said with a smile, "is an action figure from my favorite show when I was a kid, Storm Hawks. Whenever Dad came home, I'd make him sit down and watch it with me. This guy was Aerrow."

Trixie snickered and looked at Eli skeptically.

"Aerrow? What kind of name is that?" she asked. Eli shrugged.

"Don't ask me, I didn't come up with it! Younger me thought he was pretty cool, though. Guess I kind of ended up like him- a kid following in the family's footsteps, trying to defend the world..." Eli's smile faltered for a split second, and Alana frowned, unsure of what she could say to him.

"And stuck with a gang of crazy friends," Eli finished, elbowing Trixie playfully as he set the action figure into the chest and got to his feet. "Thinking back on it, though, his voice was kind of funny."

"Well, it may not have been gold, but I think the impromptu look into your childhood was worth the trip for the Forgesmelter," Trixie said as she got to her feet. "Alana, you heading to bed?"

Alana had been staring dazedly at the chest, and hadn't even realized she'd been doing it until Trixie's voice made her tear her gaze away.

"Yeah," she said flatly, getting to her feet. Her mind was still spinning- the chest felt off, the contents didn't sit right with her, but she couldn't figure out what exactly was making her feel that way.

"Are you okay?" Eli asked.

"Mhm," Alana said, yawning and stretching. "I think I'm just super tired, it was a long day of trekking through fiery caverns."

"And being accused of being part of the reason Tom Por lost it with Will Shane," Trixie added.

Alana and Eli both looked at each other in surprise. Trixie's candid nature threw them off-guard every once in a while.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Trixie said. "'Cause it's okay if you want to talk about it."

Alana sighed and shook her head.

"There's nothing to talk about. Tom Por didn't get upset with Will specifically because of me. I know that. He got upset because some people, like him, just can't really handle not being able to know everything," Alana said.

Like me. I just want to know what happened before I met Will, but the only person who knows that fell through a portal five years ago.

"If you ever change your mind, just let me know," Trixie said as the trio walked up the stairs. "Or Eli. I know we're both always ready to help."

Eli nodded as he split off from the girls to head to his bedroom.

"You bet," he said. "Night, guys."

"Night," Alana said, waving as she and Trixie walked down the catwalk to their rooms. Alana reached hers, and Trixie paused as Alana swung the door open.

"I meant what I said," Trixie said. "I'd be pretty stressed out if I were you, and you always seem so happy, but I know you can't be like that all the time."

Alana stopped in her doorway, remaining silent for a moment. What was she supposed to say?

"You're right. I'm not thrilled with everything that happened today," she admitted, glancing back at Trixie. "I just need some time to process things, though. I'll be fine."

I always am.

"Okay," Trixie said, heading down to her room. "Good night."

"Night."

~~~~~~~~

Alana laid down on her bed, still in her full gear, staring up at the ceiling. A few glow-in-the-dark crystals littered part of it, remnants of when she had been afraid of the dark, so Will had gotten the Lumino look-alikes to bring some faint light to the room, or at least a distraction for her to look at and forget her fear.

They didn't seem to be cutting it now, though. She looked up at them and still felt blank. The answer was so close- the answer to why she had felt off ever since Eli had pulled the chest out of the living room wall.

The books. The walkie-talkie. The action figure.

And then, it clicked.

With the exception of the shadow talker circlet Dana had used, the trinkets in the chest all had one thing in common: they were Will's treasure- reminders of his life, of his home on the surface, and his family.

His real family. His son, who gave him walkie-talkies and made him watch shows and shared his name and appearance and position.

His son.

Not Alana. She wasn't a Shane. No matter how much she wanted to tack on Will's last name to her own, to feel like she belonged with someone, she simply was not a Shane. Will simply was not her father. She'd had her tie to Will torn away, and while she may be friends with four new people who were starting to mean the world to her, Alana didn't have blood family to turn to. Or turn away from, like Sam Gray was planning to. Or like Dana had.

But not Dana Por.

Thinking of her made Alana feel another level of loneliness. Why had Twist mentioned her? What had her old friend been getting into?

None of that would have happened if Alana hadn't lost Will, though.

It always ties back to him, she thought as she sat up in her bed. Whether it was fighting against Doctor Blakk, or dealing with the Shadow Clan, or thinking about Alana's past, or just plain living in the hideout with his son, there was Will Shane in everything Alana did.

She sighed and ran her hands through her hair, glancing down at her pillow. Ash and Mage were curled up and already fast asleep, exhausted from the long day's insane journeys. Alana carefully got off her bed and carefully walked across her room. She paused when she reached her closet and thought for a moment before swinging open one of the doors and reaching down into the box of pictures she had.

Even in the dark, she knew where it was.

~~~~~~~~

Eli Shane couldn't fall asleep.

Granted, he knew he wasn't trying very hard. He didn't change out of his slinging gear before laying down on his bed, his hands tucked behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling of his room. Above that, there would be the cavern ceiling, and a hundred miles above that, an infinite sky. Eli had known he would be leaving the surface, and had prepared himself for it. He didn't necessarily feel homesick as much as he just missed feeling something completely familiar.

And every once in a while, the Shane hideout felt completely familiar. He could trick himself into thinking he had always lived there.

Then days like today would come up and remind Eli that he was only a recent addition made because Will Shane's story had come to an abrupt end five years ago.

Guardian slugs, Eli missed his dad so much. He missed hearing Will's stories and seeing that excitement in his father's eyes when Eli would promise that he would follow in his family's footsteps and defend the underground world with his life. He missed sitting down with Will and watching Storm Hawks, and going to the cabin and sledding in the winter, and squeezing in as many adventures as possible in the small time Will was able to spend on the surface.

But he'd had people in his life to help him move on after Will disappeared. Eli's mom couldn't be around as much as he wanted, but his Uncle Jimmo helped Eli grieve and then use those emotions to motivate himself to be the best Shane he could be.

That being said, being confronted about Will's pat with Tom Por brought up some bittersweet memories of Eli's father, and he didn't know who to talk to about them now.

He wanted to talk to Alana. She was the only one who could really understand what Eli was feeling, and the only one who could see Will as someone other than a powerful defender of the 99 Caverns.

But Alana hadn't had Uncle Jimmo to help her sort out her feelings. She'd only really had Will, and nobody else after that. Slugs were, of course, excellent company, but they lacked in emotional advice. What if Eli brought up Will and struck a chord with Alana that made her break down? What if she just wasn't ready ti talk about him? Or what if she harbored resentment for him for leaving her alone to fend for herself for five years?

Eli sighed and got up. His feet seemed to move on their own as he left his room and walked downstairs to the living room. He didn't know where exactly he was going, but he knew he had to do something other than just star blankly at his bedroom ceiling.

His footsteps were silent as he walked around the edge of the living room, looking around at his new home. Every part of the hideout was becoming more and more familiar, and it was getting to the point where he had to stop and really think for a moment before visualizing the living room of his house.

Eli walked around aimlessly, letting his gaze travel around for a few minutes. Then, still acting like they had minds of their own, his feet came to a halt along one of the walls. Before he even looked up, he knew where he was.

There was the portrait of him and Will, moved back to its position on the wall after it had been removed to reveal the location of the safe with the chest in it. Will had kept his slinging gear on for the picture- Eli liked seeing him like that, the Shane he was, instead of the surface clothes he would wear during visits.

And there was Eli, young, short, and scrawny, looking up at his father with admiration. He was wearing that silly guitar shirt he'd always liked so much. The contrast between the powerful slugslinger and the little boy was almost funny.

Eli sighed as he looked at his father's face. The grief he felt for Will always came and went in waves. He would be fine, and then someone like Dana Por would come around and remind him how much he missed Will, and he would wallow in sadness for a while before the tide retreated and he could go back to normal.

"I wish I could talk to Alana about you," he said quietly. He wanted to talk to someone in the same situation as him, but Eli couldn't bring himself to run the risk of making things worse for Alana.

Little did he know that, a couple dozen feet above him, Alana sat on the roof of her bedroom, trying to let the cool night air soothe her senses. She looked down at the picture in her hand.

Her eight-year-old self grinning at the camera, Will kneeling down next to her with a hand on her shoulder. Will had recently returned from a visit to the surface with a picture of him and Eli, and Alana had insisted that they take one, too.

A few tears formed in Alana's eyes, but they didn't fall. She didn't want herself to succumb to the sadness she was feeling.

Alana had discovered that her grief came and went like Lumino light. She would feel herself becoming dark and cold every once in a while when the weight of what she lost five years ago became apparent. Then, in time, it would fade away as her usual light took over, when she would be able to just look back on the memories she had with Will with fondness instead of pain.

She sat there on the roof a little while, breathing in the crisp night breeze and looking down at the photograph, patiently waiting for the grief to retreat so light could once again take the helm.

~~~~~~~~

A/N: Okay, you guys can watch the video now

~~~~~~~~

As always, by morning, everything felt better.

Alana woke up in her bed to pale yellow Lumino light drifting through her window. It seemed that fate was withholding the forces of darkness for a morning to give the Shane Gang some much-needed rest.

She sighed and rolled over on her back, stretching out and yawning. The memories of last night already felt like a dream.

She knew it wasn't right to be upset about Will's chest. She wasn't a Shane, she was a late addition to his life. And she knew that deep down, that was good enough.

Alana glanced up at her closet door. She'd left the picture of her and Will taped up on it, and sure enough, she looked at it and felt only bittersweet memories instead of crushing emptiness and sadness.

Alana looked around her room as her mind became more aware. She felt her senses stretching out, feeling every small bit of slug energy scattered throughout the hideout. Feelings the flickers of light was becoming as natural as seeing things with her eyes or hearing things with her ears- she almost forgot what it felt like when she was younger to not feel the energy around her.

With a sigh, she sat up and forced herself to leave her bed, despite it being incredibly warm and comfortable. She knew it would be better to get ready for the day on her own time rather than sleep in any more and be inevitably woken up by a distress call and forced to rush around.

Eager to have a morning that wasn't spent rapidly dashing through the hideout and prepping for duels, Alana headed downstairs in her pajamas, a black tee-shirt and cyan sweatpants. Halfway down, she came to a halt.

She tentatively sniffed the air, and confirmed her first thought. Someone else was up making breakfast, and it must not be Pronto, because it smelled delicious.

Alana hurried down the rest of the stairs, heading into the kitchenette. There stood Trixie, her buns tangled and messy, also donned in her own tank top and sweatpants.

"Good morning," Alana said as she opened the fridge and grabbed the (unfortunately, nearly empty) jug of apple juice and poured herself a cup. "Couldn't sleep?"

"I think I slept too much. Look at the clock," Trixie laughed. Alana frowned and glanced at the wall clock above the stove- 10:15.

"Wow. We slept for over twelve hours," Alana noted as she walked up to Trixie to see what she was cooking. Two eggs were sizzling on a pan on the stovetop. "And also, Trixie, have I ever told you how amazing you are-"

"You want an egg?" Trixie asked bluntly, cutting Alana off.

"Yes please!" Alana said with a smile. Trixie sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Fine," she said. Alana did a fist pump and set the jug of apple juice bag in the refrigerator before handing Trixie the egg carton.

"Thank you," Alana chorused as Trixie cracked the egg on the pan.

"You're welcome," Trixie said. "You seem much more cheerful this morning."

"It's been a long couple weeks," Alana said as she took a sip of her apple juice. "I think I was just tired. Sometimes you gotta just sleep it off, you know?"

"I get it," Trixie said as she flipped the eggs with a spatula. "Especially with this Sam stuff about to go down, I think it's good that we got to hang out this morning. You still think we should be cautious with her?"

Alana paused and leaned against the counter.

"I think we should always be cautious, but I don't think we have to worry about Sam," she admitted. "I just had to look past the whole family thing. It's a touchy subject for me."

Trixie nodded, and Alana bitterly remembered the last conversation she'd had with a friend ready to leave her family.

"Some of us get stuck with horrible people!"

"And some of us are stuck with no one!"

"Alright, breakfast is served," Trixie said, using the spatula to set Alana's egg on a plate and handing it to her.

"Thank you!" Alana said, grabbing two forks from the silverware drawer and handing one to Trixie.

"You are welcome," Trixie said. The two were about to take a bite of their breakfast when the holodesk suddenly began to beep.

"Are you serious?" Alana groaned as she set her plate on the counter and rushed over to the holodesk, sliding into the rolling chair (and nearly tipping it over, but she quickly recovered) and turned on the screen. "It's Sam!"

She pressed a button to accept the call as Trixie walked up behind her, still holding her eggs.

The blue screen flickered for a moment, then a video chat materialized. Sam sat in what looked like a bedroom, her brown curly hair pulled back in a bun, wearing a crisp white dress shirt and black blazer.

"You look so official," Alana noted. Sam smiled and glanced down at her outfit.

"Thanks. Welcome to a day in the life at Gray Enterprise," she said. Her cheerful demeanor faded. "I just got out of the meeting confirming the details for tomorrow."

"The boys are still sleeping. Should we go wake them up?" Trixie asked.

"I wouldn't," Sam responded grimly. "You guys are about to have an early morning tomorrow. The shipment leaves the main Gray Enterprise building at seven."

"Oh man," Trixie said. "Couldn't try to make it, like, ten?"

"Not without being suspicious," Sam laughed. "It'll be on a Slugterran Express train. The slugs will be in the caboose, then the Mecha and blaster equipment, then the dark water drill parts. So, if you guys prioritizing the slugs like I think you are, we should at least be able to save them if we get in a bind and have limited time."

"How will personnel be?" Alana asked.

"All Blakk Industries workers. My parents still don't want the public to know they're doing business with Blakk," Sam said sourly. "It's nit going to be insanely guarded, though. I think everyone wants this to be low-key. That being said, expect ghoulslingers, and... Blakk is going to be there."

"Excellent," Trixie said sarcastically.

"We can handle it," Alana said confidently.

"I hope so," Sam said. "I'll be able to get you guys coordinates for the train. I think our best bet is to hit the train when it's between Gray Enterprise and Blakk's citadel. That way, you'll be able to separate the cargo from Blakk, but you won't have to fight through any of the train depots to get it away."

"That's gonna be hard," Trixie said worriedly.

"It'll take some Mecha acrobatics, but if we have a place with some cover, we should be able to get on undetected," Alana said. "From there, we'll probably have to let the train cars go section by section, because the longer we're on the train, the more we risk getting caught."

"I couldn't get exact layouts, but I'm scheduled to be overseeing the transport," Sam said. "So I'll be there the whole time to guide you through."

"With Blakk on the train?" Trixie asked. "And your parents?"

"My parents aren't going, but I'll just have to play it safe around Blakk," Sam said. Alana could tell that she was trying to sound confident, but her fear showed in her eyes.

"Are you planning on leaving after the heist?" Alana asked. Sam nodded.

"I've got as much packed up as I can," she said. "Some of it's already shipping to Bonnie Springs. I'm going to move there and put all my time into becoming a doctor there."

"What about money?" Trixie asked.

Sam smirked, and for a moment, she looked like a fox.

"My parents put me in charge of finances. Believe me, I'll be fine."

~~~~~~~~~

I love heists guys this is fun

Anyways, how did you guys like the video?

Cyan out!✌️